So here it is folks, my first proper battle report. My friend was on his way back to uni in Rochester after the Holidays, so we decided to have a game before he had to go. And what better way to celebrate the new year than to send dozens of minifigs to gruesome deaths!

Setting up and Deployment

Setting things up

Ollie's Skeleton Army, featuring a squad of skeleton archers, a squad of mummies, some skeletal chariots and cavalry, Anubis guards and 3 wizards. In this setup, the skeletons have the ability to possibly be resurrected after being killed, but only if at least 1 of his wizards was still alive and conscious. Hence him getting 3 of the bastards (And putting 1 in a chariot, no less)

The United Medieval Front (UMF), basically a coalition of multiple factions and groups from all across the Castle and Kingdoms franchises, all coming together to fight a common threat. Mostly infantry, with a squad of knights, a dragoKnight, and a couple of heroes on horseback.

Oh, and did I mention the UMF have a Castlemech as well? Because they totally have a castlemech.

An overview of the very patchwork battlefield. The land is so bizarrely coloured that, according to popular local legends, the gods made it by lazily slapping together whatever baseplates they could find.

And of course, you can't have a Brikwars game without a bloodsplosion.

One of the secondary objectives of the battle: To obtain this oddly-positioned crystal shard.

And the other secondary objective: To capture and hold uncontested the UMF's outpost.

One of Ollie's skeleton wizards in his vehicle of choice: A magically propelled siege tower.

An overview of Ollie's complete forces, including his skeleton army, and a few extras who tagged along...

...Like these goblin troops and scorpion swarms...

...And a trio of troublesome trolls (And the Skeledroid, over there in the background)

From the sea (represented by any bit of the table without a baseplate) comes Lawrence's Samurai forces, incluing a very impressive flying Leng Dragon

A flock of Tengu also decided to join the Shogun's forces

As well as some flying beastmen in their gliders (Thank you, Legends of Chima sets!)

Lawrence's army in its entirety, coming in via ships and flying

Some Mongrolian mercenaries joined the fight, along with a ronin, who steers the ship for them.

Back on land, the UMF have a small cannon emplacement, heavily guarded by some UMF ubertroops (Heavy armour AND heavy weapons for the lot of them)

The UMF's positions all around the outpost.

The DragoKnight takes up its perch ontop of the outpost, overlooking the land...

...while the Castlemech overlooks the coastline.

And so the board is set. Lawrence's samurai attacking from the sea, Ollie's Skeletons and Goblins coming from the land, and me caught in the middle looking on in desperation. Stay tuned, for the pics from Turn 1, coming soon!

So first move of the battle and... it doesn't go great. A squad of footsoldiers attempt to jump down from a rooftop, stunning 4 of them and breaking up the squad. A bad omen perhaps?

Dirk the Archer decides to take up a vantage point on a coastline watchtower. And promptly wishes he'd brought a change of pantaloons after seeing the Samurai fleet.

Wait! We have a latecomer to the field! A local dinosaur...monster...thing, crawls out, enlists in the UMF and lies in wait for the enemies.

Over on the landward front, the knights have charged the Skeletal cavalry, slaying one undead horse in the melee.

As the successful attack rolls stack up, two more skeletons are slain.

On the other side, the Castlemech takes a shot with its multicannon and... completely misses everything. Huh... well, I did manage to kill 2 skeletons and a horse, so not a complete waste of a turn I guess.

Ollie's Turn

A squad of scouting UMF footsoldiers are ambushed by the hulking trolls and the scorpion swarms.

He wheels his goblin infantry around to help the skeletons against the UMF knights, while his skeleton infantry advance around them.

The goblin mech (Yeah, they somehow managed to cobble together a mech as well) stumbles over an ill-placed pyramid in its enthusiasm to join the fight,

And the Skeledroid clambers over the walls of the harbour.

A quick overview of Ollie's advance...

"Okay, so here's the plan: Maybe if I stare at this wall long enough... it'll feel bad and stand aside. Anyone have any questions?""Yes sir... several..."

Necromancer's stupidity aside, he does manage to cast a successful spell, and give the Skeledroid flying ability! Though this won't prove quite as useful as you'd think...

And another of his necromancers sends a good old-fashioned magic missile at the archery tower and blasts the top off, with two UMF archers going with it! Oh darn, and they were being so useful too!

And his third and (Thankfully) last necromancer castst the most vicious spell of all... he gives the dragon a sore throat, negating its firebreath attack!

His skeleton chariots move into the action, completely kettling in my knights...

...Whilst one of the trolls is deftly picking pieces of splattered UMF soldier off of his hammer.

The troll mech takes a shot with its quad-fire crossbow...

...Taking out another soldier.

Lawrence's Turn

"SURPRISE!" Lawrence's samurai spearmen clamber up the watchtower (A dumb bit of architectural design put the access ladder on the side facing the sea...) while Dirk can only look on in horror.

The Leng Dragon spot a few tasty looking UMF soldiers (Including one of my heroes) on their way, and floats in for dinner.